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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Homemade Mallowmores...

We've come to what may be the last Wednesday Treat Day for Jeff's current (soon former!) co-workers. I say "may" because we haven't nailed down all of the details about what happens when we are not in North Carolina. If the current plans work out, he may be working in the same building two weeks out of the month until we are officially moved down there, but you never know. If that does happen, I will have to convince him to sneak treats over!

To go out with a bang, we decided to try our hands at making a special goodie - Homemade Mallowmores! Here in the U.S., "Mallowmars" are a graham cracker cookie, topped with marshmallow and then covered in a rich chocolate shell. This take that we attempted on that classic cookie has all those same components, only homemade!

The entire recipe did look little daunting at first, but I broke down the steps and started out by making the marshmallow on Monday. I decided on doing that as they needed to sit for several hours before cutting and it would have been a little overwhelming to cram in all of the steps in one day. Homemade marshmallows are not nearly as hard as you might expect and if you've been reading us for awhile, you know we have posted about them a couple times. This recipe is fairly similar, except for the fact that it uses egg whites, which resulted in a marshmallow that was a bit more fluffy and creamy. Just be sure to beat the marshmallow mixture until the bowl is cool to the touch and once in the pan, give them plenty of time to set.

When they have set, slicing them can get messy - use whatever tool you feel comfortable with to cut the slab. A thin knife works well, as does a well-oiled pizza cutter - the cleaner the marshmallow cubes look, the better the end result. Since I made these ahead of time, to keep them from sticking together, I tossed the cubes with a combination of cornstarch and confectioners' sugar (dust storm!). If you decide to do this all in one day, you could skip this step and just keep the cubes separate until needed.

For a crunchy contrast to the marshmallows, they are set on a graham cracker base. The original recipe didn't call for using any graham flour, but we thought it would be nice to work some in - if you don't have any, just replace the graham with all-purpose flour. To get enough crackers out of one batch, once you have rolled the dough out and cut the crackers, grab any of the scraps and gently work them back together enough to roll out and cut once more. As soon as the crackers have baked, you'll want to work quickly and place a marshmallow on top of each immediately after they come out from the oven. This will seal the marshmallow to the warm cracker, which is what needs to happen to accomplish the final step!

For the final touch, when the two have melded and cooled, they are dunked, marshmallow side down, into a deep, slick pool of melted chocolate. I used a big block of Guittard chocolate that we broke down into small chunks and melted in a bowl over simmering water. If the marshmallows are not placed on the crackers right out of the oven, they won't have enough sticking power to stay on the cracker and will be left behind in the chocolate. Now, it isn't the end of the world if this happens - just place the marshmallow-topped crackers onto a wire rack and spoon the chocolate over the top, using a spoon or spatula to guide the chocolate over the sides of the marshmallow.

If you want the chocolate to look absolutely flawless, feel free to go through the process of tempering it first - by the time I got to dipping though, I was just ready to get them done! Biting into one of these gems, you get the bitter notes of the chocolate, the sweet, melt-in-your-mouth fluffy marshmallow underneath and finally, the crunch of the homemade honey-laced cracker at the bottom. Jeff summed these up in a simple sentence - "It's like heaven all wrapped up in a tidy, edible package!". Lots of time and effort, but definitely worth the result!

Joe, you're a good sport to move around so much. I have to confess I missed the post that said you were moving. I think you will really like North Carolina - it's beautiful and the people are wonderful.

Cool Joe!I am in Cary, close to Raleigh. I was hoping you guys were coming towards the triangle area. We have had a CL BB meeting with the triangle members and it would be nice to have you join us on the next one!Ana